#867101 by Fuzzy14
24 Feb 2014, 18:35
With our holidays to Florida becoming longer and more frequent we are considering buying a villa in the Highway 27/Disney area, especially as prices still seem to be depressed.

I'm pretty good at searching the internet for stuff but strangely I can't find a forum that covers this sort of thing.

Does anybody know of or can recommend a blog or a forum with guidance to buying overseas property? We are beginners at this so would like to know the pitfalls, how the systems differ between USA and UK. We have still to make a decision if we're going to rent when not in use or not, so any operating costs of maintenance companies, insurance, county taxes etc.

Thank you!
#867108 by marshy11
24 Feb 2014, 19:11
Not sure if there is still an "owners forum" on Tripadvisor? The Dibb is another good Florida info source but I don't know if they have a forum specifically for owners or potential owners......good luck in finding your home from home.
#867114 by spiceke
24 Feb 2014, 20:21
www.top-forums.com

All you will ever need to know about Short Term Rental business in Florida.

The site is full or Owners / MC's / Realtors etc (or was when I owned my place on Windsor Palms).

The only thing I would say is - it is harder work that you think (if you are an active owner and rent it out). If you choose not to rent it out you will need deep pockets as you still need to run the house as though someone is there i.e. A/C
#867145 by starquake
24 Feb 2014, 22:31
We've considered a villa but decided this year money being willing to go the resale timeshare route at Disney as it saves a lot of the hassle and guarantees the amount of holiday we can take as we really only want 2-4 weeks in Florida right now. Resales of the opportunity at Disney at least seem possible - we effectively only have 2 weeks to resell a year instead of 48. I think we would buy if it was 30 weeks (20 on holiday) though!. It's another option but if you already going so often I'm guessing you have something similar already !
#867172 by sunsational
24 Feb 2014, 23:15
We are thinking of selling our villa on Glenbrook, much as we love it, the children have grown and do their own thing. We are still at the 'will we'/'wont we' stage. Work stops us getting out there as often as we would like.

Main difference is that the buyer will pay the closing costs and depends on whether it is a cash buy or mortgaged. The closing costs are worked out on the sale price of the home and the Realtors %. Buying direct from the owner is a slightly different process.

We are members of TOP-FORUMS and the owner of that site is also the owner of our Management Company (Very good as well, not like our previous one). Owners on the site will be able to tell you which Realtors they have dealt with and would recommend. The site will give you a lot of information.

Karen
#867229 by Fuzzy14
25 Feb 2014, 13:48
Thank you for the link to Top Forums, looks promising I shall give it a browse. ^)

Unless I'm missing something (highly likely) I couldn't find anything in the Dibb.

With regards to timeshares/DVC, I have nothing against them in principal and I know they can really work out for some people but I don't think it's a suitable option for us especially as our holidays are fixed to school term. My father retires this year and so with friends and family we are looking to get 12-14 weeks use out of it each year, most of this would be at peak times.

The reason I'm reluctant to consider renting is because it will all be off-season availability so not sure if it's worth the effort. However I shall be budgeting accordingly to worse case and any rental income will be a bonus. I'm of the opinion that many Brits got stung in this market a few years back because they thought they could profit from the rental and the real estate prices were bound to go up (as per the British housing model.) I am approaching this rationally and pessimistically!

On our last trip we drove about and identified where we’d like to buy, it’s now a case of finding a realtor and management company and taking it from there.

y)
#867316 by gayboyzuk
26 Feb 2014, 14:27
we bought our villa 2yrs ago and was the best thing we ever did,
If you want any advise please message us I can give you the name of an excellent real estate agent, who is an expat from Scotland and he will help with everything. I can also point you in the direction of a good bank in the area again with an expat as manager.also a very good management company
The only thing I would say about the 27 area is at the moment there are major road build works in the area that are planned to last a few yrs.
i can gladly give you some tips on areas that are good for letting we have a very good letting rate and it does bring in a very good income.
Feel free to ask
Paul
#867493 by Fuzzy14
28 Feb 2014, 14:32
Could I just thank gayboyzuk for the help provided in the last 24 hours. I can't find the button on V-flyer to send chocolates/wine but I would press it if it were there.

I've also registered for Top Forums, but they've still to authorise my account (3 days now.) I've contacted the webmaster.
Virgin Atlantic

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests

Itinerary Calendar